Unexpected

The Announcement

Chapter Five: The Announcement

THUMP-THUMP! THUMP-THUMP!

Hiccup pulled the covers over his aching head but the pounding wouldn't stop. A few seconds later, he realized he was being tormented by his own heartbeat. The sound of a bird chirping outside made him wince. He groaned but found that even the noise he made hurt his ears.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" shouted a voice nearby.

"Astrid..." he whispered, trying to soothe this aching head. "Stop shouting."

"I'm not shouting." Astrid bellowed. "You're just hung over."

Hiccup moved the covers off his head and looked up at his wife. She was carrying a skin of water and looking very amused about something.

And then he remembered.

"Ohh gods!" he moaned.

"Ahh, it's coming back to you now? What do you remember?"

Hiccup thought hard about the previous night. "Everything was spinning. Pretty sure I threw up at one point but I barely remember anything. Oh wait... there was a yak..."

Astrid burst into peals of laughter. Hiccup winced again and threw the covers up to cover his ears.

"The yak was your father." Astrid explained. "He helped me get you back here."

"Oh gods, I didn't say that out loud, did I?" he asked, his eyes widening in horror.

"Yes you did, as a matter of fact." she replied. "Don't worry; he thought it was funny."

"I'm so sorry; that must have been terrible." Hiccup moaned.

"It gets worse. I took you home to give you a bath and you tried to seduce me." Astrid grinned in glee at the horrified expression on her husband's face.

"That would explain why I'm wearing nothing but a cloth." he said slowly. "Please tell me I passed out at some point."

"You did as soon as I got you up to bed. No harm done. Thanks for doing that for me." Astrid kissed him on the forehead and handed him the skin of water, which he drank in one gulp.

"Anything for you." He said, wiping his mouth with his hand. "But please don't make that necessary again."

Astrid chuckled. "I won't. I promise. In fact, I've changed my mind. I think the village should know about the baby. I don't want to see something like that happen again. Plus, you almost announced it to everyone. Good thing you waited until we got outside."

Hiccup took a deep breath. "Thank you, Astrid. But right now, all I want to do is sleep off this hangover."

She smiled. "I think I'll join you."

She shut the windows, leaving the room very dim, and climbed into bed next to him. His body was warm and soft. She dearly wanted to put her arm around him but her bandaged arm was still useless. Instead, she planted a kiss on his shoulder and drifted off to sleep.

The newlyweds awoke late in the afternoon. Hiccup's head felt much better. He gently got out of bed so he wouldn't wake his sleeping wife.

He stood up for a moment and realized that he had no idea what he wanted to do. If he was going to tell the residents of Berk about the baby, he wanted Astrid to be there as well. Perhaps he could tell someone only he knew well.

He smiled slightly as he left his bedroom and quietly tiptoed down the stairs. It didn't take him long to walk over to Gobber's workshop, where the Viking was sharpening a rather large sword. He looked up as Hiccup walked in through his front door, his face splitting into a large grin.